Monday, August 24, 2015

[nice artists] create because they want to describe the world to others so that they won’t make the same mistakes or so that they’ll know what to look out for. They’re extreme empaths and if you’re extremely empathetic, you’re extremely good at communicating and art is about communicating a feelings from a thing to a person.

Niceness is a symptom of empathy. It means you understand how someone else feels and if you understand how someone else feels, it nearly always means you care about them and if you care about them then you’re nearly always nice to them.

Friday, August 21, 2015

For a Moment .. You think, you dream, you are inspired and you decide to go for the Team. You plan, you flex, you push, you pull, you metal, you shuffle, you kettle, you stand and paddle, and jump a few hurdles, and suddenly, you've made the Team, the first stage of a dream. You smile for a while, but you know it is only the first mile. You train, you strain, you pain, you drain, you gain, you laugh, you cry, you try, you learn, you create capacity and experiences, and build motion, connections and emotions for a Moment that seems so far off. You desire, you aspire, you perspire, time transpires and suddenly the Moment is there just in front of you, just there waiting for you to decide and respond as only you know how to. May you seize this Moment just ahead. It is just there .. waiting .. yes, just there. Where? It's there, just there, you know it. Grasp it with both hands. Fight for the inches, they are hard to find but they are there. And given an inch, take a mile, no mercy. What lies ahead is a mystery and shortly it will be history, to become your few threads in the rich tapestry that became before you. Be in and saviour this Moment, it is there waiting for you to move into and through, just like a door, to shape you and to become your memories with friends for a lifetime. Forever. As Jenny would say, "Don't Wonder 'What If?'". Go Australia!! Go the Auroras!!

A favourite quote, from the many I've collected here over the years. I like it because it is so true in Art and Photography, but also Paddling and Life.

I am reminded of it every now and then in my own life, through my photography and paddling experiences. And today was one of those days ...

The Sun rose over the City skyline as we did our Thursday morning high intensity session in two, six person outrigger canoes. We do short interval efforts (level 4, level 4+) over repeat efforts of 8, 4, 2 and 1 minute. It's at a pace and intensity that can be maintained for these short time periods which is a bit higher than our race pace intensity (level 3) which we maintain for much longer periods.

We are pushing ourselves at Level 4 and the rhythm in the canoe is often not quite as nice as it would be at level 3 or 2. Our effort and technique is on the edge, on "the verge of failure or breaking down".

As I reflect over a 10 year paddling career, I have found that the best Training Sessions and Races have been the ones where everything is just a little out of control and uncomfortable. It's like a being on a knife edge or the edge of a precipices. It's that boundary between the known and unknown, good and bad, success and failure, and courage and fear (thanks Kayleene).
And ultimately, the fault line between our past and future (thanks for that one
Chantel).

It can be stressful and can feel like a feisty prickly relationship. A disonnance. And often questions and self-doubts rise to the surface.

When you are on the edge, you are pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities and beyond. And, with that comes the risk that you push too far and fail, or you just find that easy comfort zone and also fail through a lost effort and opportunity.

Disappointment may come with the failure, but if you reflect and abstract a learning, then you are more experienced and capable for the next effort. And often, as Trent Parke succinctly notes:

Empathy doesn't involve feeling sorry for someone. It is our honest answer to the question, "why did they do what they did?" [..]

Dismissing actions we don't admire merely because we don't care enough to have empathy is rarely going to help us make the change we seek. It doesn't help us understand, and it creates a gulf that drives us apart.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

the mystic power of good photography or intelligent work. it’s not about pretty pictures for me, it’s about truth. truth is magnificent and truth is layered. truth sometimes hurt but truth will always be beautiful.

I would have to say Circular Quay is not an ordinary place, based on the throng of tourists and locals down at the Quay yesterday.

It was a magnificent sun soaked winters day afternoon, with thousands of people enjoying the light, space and atmosphere of the nautical gateway to the City, at the footsteps of the Sydney Opera House.

We were in town for a Birthday Lunch for Janice who we lost in April . The lunch at Customs House was spectacular, not only for the view and food, but the company of Janice's immediate family. Janice would have loved it. And that we were all there together, remembering her.

Afterwards, we strolled around the Quay, through The Rocks, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and back. As we strolled past the Bounty, I was reminded of my 2003 photo above (along with my photo.net post made back then) and made a similar photo as the sunset.

Looking at the scene yesterday and the photos now, what surprised me was that after 12 years, how similar the two scenes were. At the macro level, the Bounty and the Opera House, appear identical, but I am sure when I look closely, there will be micro changes representing maintenance and technological progress that 12 years brings.

With these two photos, also comes the change in my "vision", my cameras (Canon IXUS S100 then and Canon S120 now, and a few in between) and words. As they say, "same same, but different". The difference probably being my experience in photography and life. In many ways, the camara is now an extension of my hand, I know what it sees and it knows what I feel through the resulting photos it exposes and brings to my life and this world. I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by the power of photography and what it reveals to me.

The two photos represent a passage of time in themselves and my implied meaning assigned to the Jul 2003 photo, along with my words at photo.net back then. Together now, the two photos above, represent the passage of 12 years of time in my own life where everything has changed so much.

So pleased we went back and I now have these photos and memories. Without the photos, the motivation to make them and assigning some connection to them, these memories and thoughts would most likley be lost.

As always, thanks Joel Meyerowitz. I never know where a thought and a few well chosen words will take me.

Have followed Anne's words and photos for a long time. I see shades of my own vision in her photos and her words are ever inspiring for someone who struggles with words - they are so hard to find for me. I suspect I am more visual than verbal. Thanks for putting it all so nicely Anne.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Landscape is an ideal vehicle for honing the skill of visual thinking; it is always at hand, whether in city, suburb, or countryside, and its meanings are not just metaphorical but real, practical as well as poetic.

Monday, August 3, 2015

It’s taken me places I would have never imagined going, and I have met so many wonderful people that I would not have met without Photogaphy. I get to wake up every day and if I’m really mad or sad, or any negative emotion, I love that photography gives me the option to find something so beautiful every day. It’s like I’m forced to find something beautiful and even if I’m photographing a sad situation, I’m trying to find the light in it.